Kalamazoo Spring Players of the Year

OTSEGO, MI – Since June of 2013, Otsego golfer Logan Haight has earned all-state honors and led his team to its first Division 2 state tournament berth.

Not bad for someone who was unable to swing a golf club just 16 months ago.

In early 2013, Haight was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic disease of the large intestine in which the lining of the colon becomes inflamed and results in abdominal discomfort.

Haight’s weight dropped to 89 pounds from his original 120. He spent a month in the hospital, and it took a month of rehab for him to swing a club again.

After regaining some weight and his swing, Haight placed seventh at the 2013 state finals, led his team to an 11th-place finish at this season’s state tournament and earned the Kalamazoo Gazette’s Boys Golf Player of the Year award for 2014.

“Logan’s a great kid,” Otsego coach Matt Rayman said. “His illness was kind of a shock to everybody when that came out, but it’s never phased him from the team side of things.

“He’s always positive and upbeat and communicating with the guys in a positive way.”

Otsego’s No. 1 golfer since his first match as a freshman, the senior-to-be placed 12th at the 2014 state finals with a two-day score of 154, just two strokes away from all-state honors.

In regular-season play, the Bulldogs captured their third consecutive Wolverine Conference title, led by Haight’s medalist score of 154 in the conference tournament.

With a daily regimen of medication, Haight said his illness had little effect on him this season.

“It never really came into play this year,” Haight said. “I’m on a lot of medicine that keeps me regulated and keeps me normal.”

When the disease caused Haight's weight to plummet to double digits and threatened his sophomore season, it was the thought of golf that kept him focused on his recovery.

“Obviously Logan was concerned health-wise, but every time I talked to him, he was concerned about losing distance off the tee and being able to hit the same irons come golf season,” Rayman said. “Those things were meaningless to me, and I’m sure his family, but part of his thought in recovery was that he need to get stronger and needed to get back and ready for golf.

“That was something that really propelled him to keep going.”

Aside from numerous junior tournaments, Haight plans to spend the summer at the driving range to work on his accuracy and at the gym to work on his distance off the tee, which is currently in the range of 250 to 260 yards.

That he has climbed back to his original form is no surprise to Rayman, who has seen Haight overcome adversity on the course for three years.

“He never gives up,” Rayman said. “So many times this year he was 8-over par with four holes left, and he’d say, ‘Don’t worry coach, I’ll be in the 70s.’